Fermanagh Football: Ian O'Riordan looks at some of the reasons why Fermanagh are seen as an emerging force in Ulster

Question 1 - Name the only two counties in the football championship yet to win a senior provincial title?

Answer - Fermanagh and Wicklow.

That makes for over a century of traumatic experiences. Some years, Fermanagh made slow progress - other years, they were bogged down altogether. Some teams came close, others cracked under expectations. Most failed for no apparent reason of all.

Fermanagh have only made four Ulster finals - the last of which was 1982, when they were beaten by Armagh. Such lofty heights were short lived and, throughout the 1990s, they enjoyed a grand total of three championship victories - two of which were over Antrim, and the other over Monaghan.

Yet, now more than ever, Fermanagh are seen as an emerging force in Ulster. Peter McGinnity was the central player on that 1982 team and went on to become Fermanagh's first All Star winner. For years after, McGinnity helped nurture players at St Michael's Enniskillen, but, after taking early retirement, he took up a new appointment in January of this year to become the county's football development officer. These days he's based at the county offices in Brewster Park, but McGinnity's main place of work is in the schools and clubs around Fermanagh.

His job isn't unique to Fermanagh and the Ulster Council now have 39 full-time officers working across the province - thanks in part to lottery funding - including a football and a hurling development officer in each of the nine counties. McGinnity's job does give him a unique view of Fermanagh football. He knows where the county is at, and where it's likely to go, and he likes what he sees.

"Right now, I think Fermanagh have reached a consistent level," he says, "probably just somewhere in the second tier of the very best teams. You still have that top three or four, but then, on any given day, given the right circumstances, Fermanagh will be able to deal with the rest of the top guns. So I would be very optimistic about the future.

"I would never really compare eras . . . But if you look at Fermanagh say in 1975, 1985, 1995, and 2005, of course we're sitting in a far healthier position than we were in any of those previous decades. That, in itself, probably suggests Fermanagh are better now than they've ever been. And I've no doubt Fermanagh are sitting higher in the players consciousness, that they feel much better than at any time in the previous decades."

McGinnity sees something else when he works with the various development squads in the county. Unlike his generation of players, the lack of success on the provincial stage is not a killer issue. Fermanagh doesn't necessarily need that Ulster title to prove they're better than the rest, not when they know they're just as good.

"Winning the Ulster title is not really talked about much by us any more," he explains. "It seems other people are still more concerned about it that we are. Of course, it's a big of a millstone for the county, but I don't think it matters to the players of this generation. It probably still matters to a player like me, who was close to doing it, and didn't make it. That will always be a disappointment. But with the qualifier system, and the opportunity to play quite a few championship matches within the one calendar year, I don't think the Ulster title is that much of an issue for Fermanagh. We've benefited enormously from the qualifiers, and definitely improved because of them. And that's why the lack of an Ulster title doesn't mean a whole lot anymore."

Question 2 - Name the only team in the football championship not to win a senior provincial title and yet make an All-Ireland semi-final?

Answer - Fermanagh.

Charlie Mulgrew could help explain how that's done, except he doesn't like doing the big interview. After managing Fermanagh to their first and only All-Ireland semi-final in 2004 he was inevitably thrown under the media spotlight. That couldn't be helped, not when guiding the team through the 2004 qualifiers past the likes of Meath, Cork and Donegal - each time with dazzling football - before beating Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Mayo eventually got the better of Fermanagh that year after a replay, and unfairly or otherwise, Mulgrew will always be burdened by that success.

He has his own way of dealing with it, though: "There's no point in going back over 2004 again. That's not just a chapter. I think the whole book is closed on that one."

Mulgrew can be a little abrupt like that in a lot of his assessments of Fermanagh, but it's not entirely deliberate. It's the Donegal man's third season in charge now and he's determined to keep looking forward, and besides, he never went looking for any attention. "I think the most difficult thing about being manager is the ever-increasing media attention involved," he adds. "There so much exposure, and it's hard to work with that sometimes. It's like that old saying, better to be thought a fool and say nothing, than to speak it and prove it.

"Even after three years I still find that part difficult. But I really enjoy the football end. I love being out there coaching, watching the players develop, and maybe see some plans come to fruition. There's a good bit of banter in the squad as well, and I've always enjoyed interacting with people in a football format."

While he'd never publicly admit it, Mulgrew has plenty of natural management skills, and was definitely one of the principal reasons behind Fermanagh's extraordinary run of 2004. When he took over (after nobody else wanted to, apparently), almost half the panel had walked, with the controversy surrounding Rory and Raymond Gallagher's exile also still brewing. He describes his arrival in Fermanagh as the most difficult few weeks in his football life.

As a player, Mulgrew had proved his worth, a centre forward on the Donegal team that won the county's first All-Ireland under-21 title in 1982. He went on to collect three Ulster senior titles and was on the bench when Donegal won their historic All-Ireland in 1992. His only rub with management was with his St Eunan's club in Letterkenny, but Fermanagh were about to discover his greatest asset - his strong competitive streak.

Patsy McGonagle, the Irish athletics manager and former trainer to the Donegal team, got close to Mulgrew during their time together at Letterkenny IT, and saw that competitive streak for himself. "It's a small thing," says McGonagle, "but I remember we were playing a volleyball match together, down in Athlone I think. We were about to be beaten, but Charlie showed how competitive he was and drove us on to win. That's hard in volleyball, because you really have to dig in, and Charlie definitely did that."

Unfortunately for Mulgrew, Fermanagh didn't prove nearly as competitive as they'd hoped last summer, with Armagh gaining prompt revenge for the 2004 defeat by easily beating them in the first round of the Ulster championship, with Down doing the same in the first round of the qualifiers.

"Of course, that was disappointing," he says. "It's not that it was difficult. More frustrating . . . Everyone's objective is to do well in the championship, and obviously if you go out in the first round it's very disappointing. The draw can be kind to you, or cruel to you. Lady luck plays a part. But the main focus of everybody in Fermanagh, the county board, the players and the management, is to make slow and steady progress. To every year bring Fermanagh onto a stronger footing. It's not about trying to peak on the graph. It's about steadily going up. Hopefully, we've learnt from last year, but it's the oldest saying in sport, that it's all on the day. You could be the best prepared team in the country and still lose any game. That's one of beauties of football."

Question 3 - Name the only two teams in the football championship to beat Armagh in the past two summers?

Answer - Fermanagh and Tyrone.

That just proves how difficult it is to beat Armagh. In fact, along with Tyrone and Fermanagh, Monaghan are the only other team to beat them in the championship since 2001, when they lost to Galway.

For McGinnity, Fermanagh's chances in Clones tomorrow rest in two key areas - their preparation, and their pace: "Last year was a disappointment in the championship, but people forget Fermanagh came straight back up from Division Two, having been relegated in 2004. That was still a significant achievement when you consider how long it took the likes of Derry and Cavan to get out of Division Two.

"Coming into 2006, the big difference again is that we have Division One football behind us, where we beat the likes of Tyrone and Monaghan. So I think Fermanagh are very well prepared for this. I know they weren't that convincing against Antrim, but Fermanagh were strong favourites, something they haven't been used to, and they were able to carry that burden.

"I'd also be quite hopeful Fermanagh have a few of the requisites to trouble Armagh. In the first 20 minutes that Monaghan played them they almost blitzed them. A lot of that was created by pace up front, and Fermanagh definitely have that pace up front.

"Our defence was also very good throughout the league. Barry Owens is back to his best. Raymie Johnston and Shane McDermott are playing consistently well, and younger players like Ciarán O'Reilly and Seán Doherty are starting to bed."

Mulgrew has also added some freshness this year by bringing in Omagh PE teacher Conal Sheridan as physical trainer, and Gerry Moen as his new selector. McGinnity believes another of Mulgrew's greatest assets is ensuring the players perform to their full potential. "I think the two players that have made the biggest impact on this Fermanagh team over the past three years are Mark Little and Eamonn Maguire.

"Charlie has many abilities, but one of the main ones is his ability to get the best out of players like that. To me that's very significant. Those two boys made such a difference to us, because of their pace, and suddenly Fermanagh were a totally different kettle of fish, with real zest in the forward line. Like what we saw against Cork in 2004."

Mulgrew himself is a lot more cautious when predicting what might happen in Clones tomorrow. "We've prepared as well as we could over the winter, worked very hard. Our objective was to maintain Division One status, but we had a distant watch on the championship as well. We're injury free, which is always a big help, and we're just looking forward to the match now.

"Again it goes back to producing a good performance on the day. We can't legislate for what Armagh might do . . . Everyone knows they're extremely difficult to beat. But look, championship is championship, and anything can happen on any given day.

"The other thing is we have Division One football again next year, which gives us further basis for improvement. When you're measuring yourself every Sunday against the best teams in the country you're bound to reach a higher standard. And for the younger players coming through it's important to see Fermanagh able to live with the best teams in the country. That helps create the desire for the kids to put on the Fermanagh jersey and play for the county."

Mulgrew, whether he'd admit it, has already got a lot more of those Fermanagh youngsters wearing the county jersey.

Fermanagh Football The Last 10 Years

1996 - Ulster Quarter-final: Lost to Tyrone, 0-9 to 1-18.

1997 - Ulster Quarter-final: Drew with Cavan 1-12 to 1-12; Lost replay 0-11 to 0-14.

1998 - Ulster Quarter-final: Lost to Cavan 0-11 to 0-13.

1999 - Ulster First Round: Beat Monaghan 2-12 to 0-10; Quarter-final: Lost to Tyrone, 0-8 to 0-18.

2000 - Ulster Preliminary Round: Beat Monaghan 3-12 to 1-10; Quarter-final: Beat Donegal 1-12 to 0-13; Semi-final: Lost to Armagh 0-12 to 0-13.

2001 - Ulster Preliminary Round: Drew with Donegal 2-13 to 1-16; Won replay 1-9 to 0-11; Quarter-final: Lost to Monaghan 2-10 to 0-14. First Round Qualifier: Lost to Donegal 1-6 to 0-15.

2002 - Ulster Quarter-final: Beat Monaghan 4-13 to 2-11; Semi-final: Lost to Armagh 0-16 to 1-5; Second Round Qualifier: Beat Westmeath 0-14 to 0-7; Third Round Qualifier: Lost to Kerry 0-4 to 2-15.

2003 - Ulster Quarter-final: Beat Donegal 0-10 to 0-6; Semi-final: Lost to Down 2-10 to 0-11; Second Round Qualifier: Beat Cavan 0-16 to 1-10; Third Round Qualifier: Beat Meath 1-12 to 0-9; Fourth round qualifier: Beat Mayo 0-12 to 1-8; All-Ireland Quarter-final: Lost to Tyrone 0-5 to 1-21.

2004 - Ulster Quarter-final: Lost to Tyrone 1-13 to 0-12; First Round Qualifier: Walkover Tipperary; Second Round Qualifier: Beat Meath 0-19 to 2-12 (AET); Third round qualifier: Beat Cork 0-18 to 0-12; Fourth round qualifier: Beat Donegal 1-10 to 0-12 (AET); All-Ireland Quarter-final: Beat Armagh 0-12 to 0-11; All-Ireland Semi-final: Drew with Mayo 0-9 to 0-9; Lost replay 1-8 to 0-13.

2005 - Ulster Preliminary Round: Lost to Armagh 2-12 to 1-7; First Round Qualifier: Lost to Down 1-11 to 0-7.